John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton

John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton (10 January 1834-19 June 1902) was a British Catholic historian and the Liberal Party MP for Carlow Borough from 18 May 1859 to 25 July 1865 and for Bridgnorth from 25 July 1865 to 1866.

Biography
John Dalberg-Acton was born in Naples, Two Sicilies on 10 January 1834, the son of a diplomat. After being rejected by Cambridge University, he spent six years studying in Munich. Through his stepfather he met William Ewart Gladstone, who became his mentor, and he was elected to Parliament as a Liberal in 1859. He was not a success either in the House of Commons or, from 1869, in the House of Lords. For most of his life he was known for his fervent attempts to uphold the doctrines of liberal Catholicism at a time when there was little basis for such a position. He was known for his obsessive reading, notetaking, and annotations, although he wrote very little himself. He became Regius professor of history at Cambridge in 1895 and in 1896 became the editor of the Cambridge Modern History. His A History of Liberty project remained unwritten at the time of his death in 1902, but The Times noted that he had "made history respectable."